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Marketing Tips
Marketing tips from Gorham Printing include:
- creating an
order form inside the book
- creating a website to promote the book
- preparing promotional
pieces for various media (using your cover design as a graphic)
- sending email announcements when the
book is published
- contacting local
newspapers,
TV, and radio
stations
- arranging
speaking engagements at book stores, special interest groups,
or organizations you belong to
- hosting a signing party for your book
- entering the book in writing
competitions
- placing your book in
bookstores
and
other retail shops
- selling your book via online outlets such as Amazon
As a distributor of the book, you can sign up for the Amazon "Advantage" program
for $30 a year. You have to ship a few of the books to the Amazon warehouse
so they are "in stock" and
if need be, restock them. But Amazon takes 55% of each sale.
See: http://advantage.amazon.com/gp/vendor/public/faq for
more information.
You can also sell books on Amazon
Marketplace just as used book dealers do. The markup in much
less than when Amazon sells books directly. But first, you must
get the book listed via the Advantage program. Only books already
in the Amazon catalog can be sold in the Marketplace. (Amazon
doesn't tell you about this probably because they want you to
sign up for their Pro Merchant program at $40/month.)
Some additional suggestions:
- Mail flyers and promotional pieces to everyone you know.
- Word of mouth (for a small edition) is often very effective. Your
first patrons will be family and friends.
- Contact local book clubs and arrange to speak about your book.
- If you have a "niche market," target that market (e.g., a book of
poems with environmental emphasis would be pitched to environmental
organizations).
- Participate in local book fairs (sell your books from a booth).
All of your expenses can be tax deductable, since publishing
and marketing your book is a business, so save all receipts.
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Resources:
Tips from Gorham Printing
Summary
of Wordrunner 2006 Survey of Self-Published Authors
2006
Survey Results in Full
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